title: How far can a sodium ion travel within a lipid bilayer?
abstract: Analogues of a synthetic ion channel made from a helical peptide were used to study the mechanism of cation translocation within bilayer membranes. Derivatives bearing two, three, four, and six crown ethers used as ion relays were synthesized, and their transport abilities across lipid bilayers were measured. The results showed that the maximum distance a sodium ion is permitted to travel between two binding sites within a lipid bilayer environment is 11 Å.
authors.affiliation: Département de Chimie and PROTEO, Faculté des Sciences et de Génie, Université Laval, Pavillon Alexandre-Vachon, 1045 avenue de la Médecine, Québec, QC, Canada, G1V 0A6.
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Otis
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Racine-Berthiaume
authors.forename: Normand
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Voyer
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001692:Biological Transport; D043844:Crown Ethers / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010455:Peptides / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D012964:Sodium / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D043844:Crown Ethers; D007473:Ion Channels; D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D010455:Peptides; D012964:Sodium